Switched
by PiePerson
Summary: Being a detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit doesn't protect anyone from becoming a victim themselves. Rated M for implied rape and language. Slight, slow progressing E/O.
1. Likeness

**A/N: First story, really short... read and review!**

**Chapter One; Likeness**

I never thought I'd be such a hypocrite. I could never even count the number of rape victims I've told to seek out help… and here I am, watching TV and eating 'till I have to throw up… just to cope with the fact that I just became a statistic, another woman who was attacked… and raped.

--

Donald Cragen walked into the precinct early one morning, only to find the familiar sight of his most promising female detective, passed out on her desk. He sighed and shook his head. _This is getting to be ridiculous! It's been three days! Not to mention, there hasn't been a single case this week! _He walked over to Olivia, and gently shook her shoulder to wake her up.

Instead of just sitting up in her chair calmly, her eyes darted open and glanced around furiously before her stoic gaze landed on her boss. It was an eerie response that greeted him each time he woke her up… no actually, each time _anyone _woke her up this week. It was as if she was trying to keep her guard up… scanning the area for threats.

"Olivia, what's going on?" That's all it took for the mask to be up again, she sat up; almost robotically, and stretched her arms. Etching a lopsided smile on her face, she attempted to warmly greet her captain, without even having to do say verbally.

"Sorry captain, I've been having a little trouble sleeping lately." It was a lame response, but truthful in part. It seemed that Don was just about to respond when the door was thrown open to reveal three very familiar detectives. Ironically, the three arrived at the same time almost every morning; and there they all stood with their cups of coffee; except for Elliot… he held two.

Munch and Fin each acknowledged her and went to their respective desks, Cragen headed off to his office, a little annoyed about having not being able to say what he originally wanted. Elliot smiled and handed Olivia one of the cups, sitting down across from her. "Just the way you like it."

"Gee El, you know me so well I'm beginning to think you stalk me!" As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Olivia was only joking, but the words just made her flashback to her current situation. Elliot didn't even notice, having already dived into his pile of paper work.

He laughed and responded cheerfully. "Well I obviously knew well enough to know that you've been here all night."

"Yeah." Olivia's toneless response made Elliot look up at her. His jaw tightened, not out of anger but out of a slight indecision. Address it? Or let it be? Either way he wouldn't get an answer out of her stubborn mouth.

"Not much sleep, I'm guessing?" Elliot finally asked. Olivia sighed and ran a hand through her tussled hair.

"Yeah… I had about an hour of sleep tonight… today. Don't worry though; I've gone without sleep before." She faked a convincing smile, a talent she had since long ago picked up.

"Me? Worry…?" Elliot feigned shock.

Olivia laughed for the first time in about… three days. Even through the worst of it all, the intense connection between the two always seemed to help bring the other one up, ever so slightly. "Of course not El, you would never worry."

Sarcasm or no sarcasm, Olivia couldn't be any more wrong. Even now, as Olivia smiled back at him… a flawless smile, a flawless disguise; Elliot could still see right through her… she was transparent in his eyes. Only he couldn't place what was the matter, and he was determined to find out.

The phone rang, and Olivia picked it up before it could sound twice. "Manhattan Special Victims?" She listened for a while before responding with a simple. "We'll be right down." The questioning look Elliot passed her said it all. "We have a victim, Warner and CSU is already on the way to the crime scene."

--

Warner pulled back the sheet of the victim, revealing her face to Detectives Benson and Stabler. Olivia immediately took in the woman's features as Warner began to talk. "No fluids, no hairs… just bruises and cuts all over her body."

"How did she die?" Elliot asked, looked down to observe the body.

"He cut a gash across her stomach and left her to bleed out." Warner confirmed. The two continued talking about the condition of the girl, leaving Olivia to her own thoughts as she stared at the body, up until Warner pulled the sheet over her head.

Despite no longer seeing her face, Olivia couldn't get it out of her head that the victim bore a slight resemblance to herself.


	2. Names

**A/N: Alright, don't start expecting these speedy updates. I actually had this chapter written before I uploaded Chapter 1, I finnished Chapter 3 sooner than expected because i had it all mapped up, but I don't expect that to happen again or right away. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2; Names**

Elliot and Olivia proceeded to investigate the rape and murder of the woman. Her wallet was found at the crime scene, all the money intact, and used it to I.D. the woman as _Chastity_ Walker. The irony of it all made Olivia sick to her stomach, while it gave John the time of his life. He continued to ramble on about how the meaning of a person's name can predict their future… or some bullshit that no one but Munch and his 'superior mind' could understand.

_The name 'Olivia' means olive tree; _Thought the over-stressed, sleep deprived detective. _That obviously reveals __so__ much about my life. _Olivia yawned and shuffled through some paper work on desk, that's when Cragen walked in, he motioned for Elliot and Olivia to follow him to his office. Elliot crossed his arms and tilted his head up ever so slightly as he stood across from his Captain in his office.

Olivia cut right to the chase. "What's up?" She asked in a very casual tone.

Cragen stuffed his hands into his pocket. "I want you to go out and start questioning Chastity's friends and family, starting with her husband."

"Certainly sir, but-" Olivia was cut off for the millionth time when the door cracked open to reveal another detective that worked at the precinct.

"Uh, Captain, a witness to the Walker case just stepped forward." Cragen nodded and dismissed him without so much of a word.

Turning to Elliot and Olivia, he addressed them and pointed towards the window that led to the interview room. "You two can interview our witness; I'll get Munch and Fin to start asking around."

--

Olivia was the first to step in, with Elliot right behind her. There was a teenage girl sitting in front of them, and Elliot was quite surprised to not immediately hear Olivia's sweet voice. Usually, she would come in, smile, and sit across from the girl. "Hi, my name is Olivia, what's your name?"

Instead, Elliot had to break the awkward silence. "Hi, I'm Detective Stabler, and this is my partner Detective Benson." The girl nodded, so Elliot pushed a little farther. "And you are…?"

"My name is Penny, Penny James." She offered; she slouched slightly in her chair, green eyes staring down at her lap as her hands gripped the bottom of her chair.

Olivia looked at the girl. "Penny, can you tell us what happened?"

"No…" Penny muttered as she pushed aside her blonde bangs.

Olivia and Elliot exchanged a glance, Elliot was staring her down as a matter of saying 'Are you alright?' while she just kept an impassive face, before starting again, she sighed and tried to compose herself. "Penny, how old are you?"

"Sixteen…" Came the muffled response.

"Penny, how come you can't tell me what happened?" Olivia asked. She sat down and folded her arms over the table, Penny met her eyes and they stayed that way for a second.

"Because I didn't see it happen." The only thing that greeted her was silence, so she continued on. "I only saw who did it."

"How can you tell?" Elliot asked her.

Penny paused before continuing. "I wasn't sure at first, I saw him walk out of the alleyway, his pants were loose around his waist and he had his shirt off."

Olivia frowned visibly. "Honey, it was hot day, that's most of the male population…" She heard Elliot chuckle lightly behind her.

"No, I know it was him. I turned and peeked into the alley and saw her lying there… he turned around and winked at me, before he ran off, that's when I called the police." Penny sighed and looked up at them. "I'm sorry I didn't step forward right away… I was scared."

"Of what?" Elliot asked, a little perplexed; she didn't appear to be in any danger.

"I thought you might not believe me…" Penny trailed off. Olivia was in a visible daze, staring at the wall behind Penny, rather than at her. Elliot took this as a cue to take charge of the moment.

"Don't worry, we believe you." Elliot walked over and leaned over on the table, purposely so that Olivia would snap out of her trance. "But we need you to describe him to the best of your ability."

"Well, he was tall, tan, and handsome… blue eyes, black hair, and… really strong looking." Penny seemed to be more in love with him than anything else. Elliot noticed this, and he was sure Olivia caught it to, but as he turned expecting their eyes to meet; as they usually did when they both noticed something stranger; he saw her hesitate instead.

"Is there... anything unique about him?" Olivia asked as she struggled to make and keep eye contact with the girl.

Penny turned serious again and nodded, it's not like it is strange for a teenager to fantasize about an older man. "Yeah, he had a tattoo on the back of his neck; I remember staring at it trying to understand what it meant, because it was in a different language."

Olivia sighed. "Do you know what it said?"

"I know how it's spelled, does that help?" Elliot answered by passing her a pen and a notepad that rested on the table. Penny scribbled letters on to the paper than turned it around for them to look at it.

_**Olea europaea**_

"We'll get Munch to do some digging…" Elliot muttered to Olivia. She nodded in response and turned back to Penny.

"Would you be able to describe him to a sketch artist?" She asked the girl, after Penny nodded, she continued. "Identify him in a line up?" Another nod; the partners straightened up and exited the room, a sketch artist entered before the door could close.

--

Conveniently, Munch and Fin walked in the room just as Elliot and Olivia did.

"Find anything?" Elliot asked as he scratched the top of his head.

"Yeah, an ancient-old mother with dementia." Fin piped. "She kept telling us about how 'God forgives all'."

Elliot grinned. "Well, that's what they teach ya." Munch looked like he wanted to say something smart, but held back. Elliot took this as a perfect time to pitch him a question. "Hey Munch, can you look something up for us?" He asked as he slipped him the paper.

Munch looked at the paper then back up at Elliot. "Your lover?"

"Very funny, Munch." Elliot said with a casual toss of his head, with that he moved to his desk, leaving Olivia to explain.

"A witness scribbled this down saying it was tattooed on the back of the neck of our alleged perp." Olivia summed it up as Fin went to take a seat at his desk.

Munch sighed and laughed. "Oh," Olivia took this as a cue to retreat to her workspace. "I thought for a moment that Elliot had a girlfriend named 'olive tree'…."

At that moment, Olivia stopped with her back turned to him, as if she were rooted to her spot. After a brief hesitation, she turned around and looked at him, trying to look professional and perplexed at the same time. "Olive tree…?" She parroted.

"Well yes, _Olea Europaea _means 'olive tree', it could mean something else, but as far as I know, that's all."

Olivia stood still for a moment; hey eyes were unfocussed as she ran this through her mind a few hundred times. First the victim looked like her, than the perp. looked; or sounded like he looked, like her rapist, and now the perp. has a tattoo with the meaning of _her name _on his neck? Was she the only one making this connection? _That's my name… Olivia... 'olive tree'… _She hadn't even realized how long she'd spaced out until Munch addressed it causally.

"Liv, what are you thinking?" Only she didn't answer, she continued to stand there in a total trance, flashbacks hitting her from every direction, and hitting hard. Paranoia, PTSD, and anxiety were taking over her mentally and physically as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and a vein appeared visibly in its place. Then all of the sudden, a phone rang loud and clear throughout the office, it was the only thing Olivia heard, even in the noisy headquarters. She snapped out of her thoughts and panted in a quick breath.

Upon realizing _her _phone was ringing, she quickly put up her fake smile and calm look. "I better get that…" She eagerly excused herself to her desk where she carefully clutched the armrests and lowered herself into the chair for stability. Her three co-workers watched on without her knowledge. The phone seemed to ring forever before she swallowed the knot in her throat and picked it up.

Olivia took a deep breath, and said in a surprisingly professional voice. "Benson."

**A/N: REVIEW!!! Seriously, if you like this story and want to see more, review. It's the only _real_ way I'll know that people actually care. :]**

**Criticism welcome!! **


	3. Mr Right

**A/N: Okay, so I'm actuall suffering from a little bit of writers block for Chapter 4, grammar may be crappy since I'm literally just posting this so you guys have something to read while I'm on a last minute vacation.**

**Thank you to all the story subscribers and all the people who reviewed for motivating me to push through my writer's block and keep writing this story!!**

**Chapter 3; Mr. Right**

***= same scene, different POV**

Olivia placed her phone down on the desk and immediately, Munch, Fin, and Elliot glanced up to look at their female partner. Unaware, she sighed and rubbed her temple. The long day was hardly half way through and she was already physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Plus, looking up to find three pairs of eyes on her wasn't exactly very settling. Her tired eyes met Elliot's who had a look overwhelmed with emotions like concern, curiosity, and possibly guilt.

This time it was her turn to break the awkward silence. "Warner wants to see us again." She stood up and re-attached her badge to her belt, Elliot shortly followed the suit.

"Did she say why?" Elliot asked dumbly, he was subtly testing her and her reactions.

"Guess it's a surprise." Olivia shrugged and tucked her gun by her side as well. Elliot took notice of this, but tried to keep to himself, thinking better than to make a big deal out of it in public.

He followed her into the hallway as they made their exit without bothering to tell Cragen. Elliot deliberately stayed a pace or two behind her so he could study her carefully. He did so all the way to where he was parked, as he refused to let her drive.

*

The car ride was uneventful, it involved Olivia staring straight ahead of her the whole car ride and Elliot looking at her every five seconds, almost causing an accident twice.

Elliot continued in the same pursuit as he did at the headquarters. Watching as Olivia walked with her spine straightened and shoulders stiff was a little bit uncomforting for him. She seemed so tense, so… stressed, and until he knew what was going, he couldn't even attempt to comfort her.

He had no idea what was going on in that mind of hers.

*

Olivia sighed silently to herself; she could feel Elliot's eyes staring into the back of her head. She knew he was concerned, who wouldn't know? There were times where she wanted to turn around and fall into arms, drop her mask and let the porcelain shatter on the floor. The tears would threaten to spill over as she would tell him everything that happened to her.

_No. _Olivia thought stubbornly as she rubbed her eye. _I have to be strong for him. _For him; not for herself, but for him... truth be told she was falling apart with each stride she made, with each breath she took; she couldn't weigh him down with this burden. Not after it was already killing her.

Caught up in her own thoughts, she felt her someone's shoulder roughly brush past hers, her head snapped up, but then everything just went slow, in her head.

*

Elliot watched in horror as Olivia spun around her heel and flipped her gun from her waistband. She held it with unsteady arms and an expression that made it feel like he had been hit by a truck. In her eyes he saw the look of a crazed, scared, and hurt woman. Olivia wasn't in her right state of mind; she _would _pull the trigger if she felt threatened. The only conflict in Elliot's mind was to approach her as cop, or as a friend.

"Liv…" He called to her quietly. Elliot took slow, tiny steps toward her; then froze when the gun pointed in his direction. His hands slipped up over his head, and he released a puff air he had trapped in his lungs previously. "Listen to me, put the gun down; no one's hurting you." Elliot saw her inner conflict, but knew that he couldn't help in any way.

He saw her bow her head; in shame, sadness, or betrayal… he wasn't sure. But he took this as a cue to pull the gun from her hand.

Elliot sighed as Olivia's gaze turned back up to him. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head put a hand on her shoulder, to which action she tensed up. "What's going on, Olivia?"

*

Olivia looked into his eyes as she struggled with a response, she knew she would have to tell him sooner or later, but she just couldn't bear t say it now. When he approached her, he did so like she was a victim, and it only scared her more. "Elliot…" She started. "I can't- I just can't talk to you now. We have a case to do."

As soon as she said it, she felt bad, wondering how badly she hurt him. She'd never know however, since he was just as good at hiding as she was.

Elliot nodded a few hundred times before muttering, mostly to himself. "Right…" She did the same, nodding awkwardly for a while before turning her head to face the door beside them. Melinda looked up from her work and smiled at them, so she faked one right back. Before walking in, she paused and took her gun back from Elliot, sliding it back into place. The two walked in silently.

"Took you long enough." Melinda greeted warmly, with her usual sense of humor.

"We got tied up, what's going on?" Olivia asked with her hands in her pockets. Her face showed no signs of her previous event. Elliot acknowledged this with a quick raise of his eyebrows, but yet again kept his mouth shut.

"I just finished the autopsy; you guys are gonna _love_ what I found." Warner said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"I can't even begin to guess." Elliot said in a monotone voice, oh how thrilling his day has been so far.

"Roofies." Warner unaffectionately used the slang term as she brought up yet another mystery in the case.

"What?" Elliot couldn't believe it.

Olivia tried to make sense of it, but over all came up unsuccessful. "So, he meets her at a bar, date rapes her, then kills her?"

"Kind of defeats the purpose doesn't in?"

Melinda shook her head. "There was no alcohol in her system, either she was the designated driver, or the perp. knew her."

"CSU didn't find car keys." Elliot thought out loud.

"And there wasn't a single car anywhere on the block." Olivia added. This wasn't making any sense, what was going on?

Elliot rubbed his arm. "Who goes bar-hopping that early in the morning anyways?"

"Maybe he just didn't want her putting up a fight." Melinda chipped in with her professional.

Olivia sighed. "What men will do to feel strong…"

"Thanks Melinda, goodnight." Elliot smiled and excused the two of them, their shift had ended half way through their little road trip, and it was time to go home. He dropped Olivia back at the precinct so she could get her car, even though he knew that she would never quite make it home.

--

The next morning, Olivia awoke to found herself surrounded by a bunch of busy officers. When she asked why no one woke her, Cragen smartly responded saying that he didn't want to _bother _her.

_Which is worse? _She thought. _Having everyone around you pester you with questions, or have them accept, yet totally ignore you what's happening to you?_

For two hours, they chased inconclusive leads. For another hour, they rode the desk and tried to pull up as much information as they could. Four nosey heads turned to Munch when the phone on his desk rang, including Captain Cragen's.

"Munch." Traditional last name greeting, he said nothing for a while as he listened into the phone. "Thank you." A small click was heard as he hung up the phone. "Tattoo-boy strikes again."

"How are they sure?" A suspicious Fin challenged.

"Because it happened in the _same place_, and the _same time _as yesterday's attack."Munch crossed his arms and pushed his rolling hair out from his desk and rolled over to Olivia and Elliot's desks. "Only difference is, she was strangled to death."

"Munch; that can still be any body…" Olivia testified, beginning to become concerned herself.

"Nope," He replied with the upmost assurance. "A female witness spotted him as he walked out from the alleyway, a '_hot'_ topless guy with a tattoo reading 'Olea europaea'."

The four rose to grab their coat, only Elliot spoke. "Our daylight rapist is starting to sound more and more like Mr. Right…"


End file.
